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DURING THIS Black History Month, there is much to be done to recapture and reclaim our black heritage. One major undertaking lies right under our feet -- the reclamation and preservation of thousands of African-American cemeteries. I was recently reminded of the need for this work when I went home to Cincinnati. As part of a weekend of racial reconciliation, members of local Unitarian churches placed handsome headstones on the graves of my great-grandparents in a small black cemetery there.

One outgrowth of the Los Angeles riots has been public awareness of tensions that for years have smoldered just below the surface between blacks and Korean merchants. This lesson should not be lost. Baltimore officials ought to be working hard right now to heal the rifts that exist here before they erupt in violence.Both Koreans and blacks see themselves as persecuted minorities. But over the years a wall of misunderstanding has built up, owing to differing cultural and historical experiences.

Nashville, Tennessee. -- Ayoung news executive asked me for my reaction to that ''Bell Curve'' book about the genetic &L inferiority of black people.I laughed. Confused, he said, ''I thought you'd be angry and call it a dangerous book.''''It is useless, damaging and dangerous in these times of deep racial troubles in America,'' I said.I was laughing because I was reminded of the funny ways in which claims of black inferiority have graduated from the crude and comical to elitist pseudo-scientific.

Terrance Stowes set out to design a calendar that would teach people about famous black men and woman who were first in their fields.The result has been a calendar that not only teaches people, especially children, about historic black figures, but also spotlights the achievements of men and women long out of the limelight.Mr. Stowes left out such famous figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, so he could include people like Madame C. J. Walker and Ralph Johnson Bunche."I wanted to put in people who maybe others didn't know that much about," said Mr. Stowes, a staff sergeant who lives at Fort Meade and works in the Pentagon.

Please don't make a big deal of it, OK? Danielia Cotton is a black chick from New Jersey: pretty, svelte, the camera loves her. But she isn't trying to be the next Mariah or Beyonce. Armed with her guitar, a take-no-mess attitude and a blues-rich voice, Cotton is an AC/DC-loving rocker determined to make her presence felt in a melanin-challenged arena. Besides, the singer-songwriter-musician isn't the first black woman to rock out - and do it well. Surely, you've heard of a force of nature named Tina Turner.

By Douglas Lamborne and Douglas Lamborne,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | February 14, 2000

A LONG OVERDUE spotlight is about to be cast on a largely ignored aspect of Annapolis life -- the African-American community in Eastport, which is the subject and title of an exhibit opening Sundayat Mount Zion United Methodist Church at 612 Second St. The exhibit is the result of two years of work by a committee of about 20 members under the direction of Peg Wallace, chairwoman of the Eastport Historical Committee, who likes to make sure everyone gets...

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - There were about 100 middle-aged and elderly men and women, mostly African-American, in the auditorium at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society on a recent Sunday. They came to remember their stories of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s for the Voices of Civil Rights tour, a 70-day national effort by the American Association of Retired Persons, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Library of Congress. Compared with Watts, Newark, and the Boston busing crisis, Milwaukee was a less well known but powerful fulcrum of civil rights activities in the '60s, including a school boycott and a riot.

In April 1967, my brother and I stood in front of a store on the corner of Edmondson and Fremont avenues in Baltimore. He gave me the news that Muhammad Ali had refused induction into the armed services.I let out a shout of joy. Ali at that moment became my athletic hero. Oh, I'd heard of a black guy named Arthur Ashe who was making waves in the tennis world. But with his skinny frame and black-rimmed glasses, Ashe looked like the antithesis of a sports hero. He seemed a bit too Walter Mittyish for my taste.

Alice Brenda Henry Black, a city schools administrator, died Dec. 23 at her home in Northwood after a long illness. She was 50.A native of Baltimore, the former Alice Henry was a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and received her bachelor of science and master's degrees from what was then Morgan State College. She later received her doctorate in urban education from Temple University in Philadelphia.Dr. Black began her career as a science teacher at Calverton Junior High School and Walbrook Senior High School.

Black leaders in Annapolis say they plan an aggressive lobbying effort to ensure that new political boundaries don't dilute black voting strength.As a city advisory panel prepares to hear public testimony tonight on redrawing political boundaries, black representation isexpected to dominate debate.The 13-member redistricting committee, appointed by Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins, has just begun reviewing two possible scenarios for new council districts drawn up by the administration.By year's end, the committee plans to recommend specific boundaries to the City Council, which must approve any changes.